Box Score
King's Men's Basketball Downs Eastern 82-44 in Key Freedom Conference Game

Wilkes-Barre, Pa. – Four different King's players reached double figures as the Monarchs jumped out early and cruised past Eastern 82-44 Wednesday night at Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win the King's moves to 9-11 overall and climbs back into the Freedom Conference playoff hunt with a 4-5 mark in league play. Eastern falls to 5-15 overall and 3-6 in conference play.  The Monarchs also avenged an earlier 70-67 loss to Eastern in which King's led for the majority of the game but shot just 47.6 (10-21) percent from the foul line in the contest.

The Monarchs came out of the gates hot getting an old-school three-point play and a layup from Kyle Hammonds followed by a Matt Fiorino 3-pointer to build an 8-0 lead. Eastern bounced back with an 8-2 run to capped by a Tyler McGrath bucket to cut the lead to 10-8 at the 16:22 mark in the first half.

King's pulled away with an 18-4 run that started with a layup by Hammonds at the 15:30 mark and ended with a Tim O'Shea old-fashioned three-point play at 8:56 to set the lead at 28-12. The Monarchs finished the half with a 16-9 spurt to take a 42-21 lead into the locker room.

The teams traded baskets to open the second half and King's held a 49-27 lead with 17:04 to play. The Monarchs extended the lead to 61-31 courtesy of a 12-4 run keyed by a pair of triples by Matt Fiorino. The lead never slipped below 29 the rest of the way.

Fiorino and Hammonds each scored 16 points to lead the Monarchs. Fiorino connected on 5-of-9 shots from beyond the arc. Connor Hughes added 11 points and five rebounds. Joe Caffrey was the fourth Monarch in double figures with 10 points to go with seven boards and three assists. Ian Oakely dished out eight helpers and a team-high eight rebounds.

McGrath led the way for the Eagles with 12 points. Keith Crowell notched seven points while grabbing four rebounds.

The Monarchs are back in action on Saturday when they host FDU-Florham in Freedom Conference play. The game tips-off at 3:00 p.m. at Scandlon Gymnasium.